Dental material placement instrument



Nov. 3, 1970 J. A. MENDCNDLA 3,537,180

DENTAL MATERIAL PLACEMENT INSTRUMENT Filed July 23, 1968 JOSEPH A.MENDOLA 1N VEN TOR.

BY QAW ATTORNEY United States Patent 3 537,180 DENTAL MATERIAL ILACEMENTINSTRUMENT Joseph A. Mendola, 255 Nottingham Terrace, Buffalo, NY. 14216Filed July 23, 1968, Ser. No. 746,992

Int. Cl. A61c 3/00 US. Cl. 32-40 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Adental material placement instrument having a stationary inner memberwith gripping tines at one end thereof and a tubular member telescopingover the inner member and movable beyond the tines, a stationary housingmember surrounding the tubular member and fixed to the inner member, anda spring between the housing member and the tubular member biasing thesame such that the tines project therefrom.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to dentalinstruments and, more particularly, to an instrument for placing andapplying various dental materials, such as cotton, to the mouth andteeth.

Instruments are currently known which aid in placing dental materialssuch as cotton in the month. These generally function only to pick upthe material by means of various types of grips or sharp edgedprojections. The dentist would pick up the material with one handholding the instrument, place the material in the patients month; thenwith his other hand holding a second instrument, he would remove thematerial from the first instrument and compact it to place in the properlocation in the month.

As should be apparent, the above described procedure, requiring the useof both hands, is time consuming and inefiicient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The foregoing, and other, disadvantages areovercome according to the teachings of the present invention, whichprovides a single dental placement instrument that functions to placethe dental material in the approprrate oral location and also in asingle operation functions to remove the material and compact or wedgeit into place. The dentist need only use one hand and the operation isfast and eflicient.

Basically, the present invention provides; an elongated member; tipmeans on one end of the member for gripping a dental material such ascotton; and slidable means telescoping over the member and having aportion thereof movable from a first position spaced from the tip meansto a second position even with said tip means to a third position beyondthe tip means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a fuller understanding of thepresent invention, reference should now be had to the following detaileddescription of the same taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the apparatus according to the presentinvention, illustrating the same in one operative position, and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view similar to FIG. 1, illustratingthe apparatus in a second operative position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings,the placement instrument is generally depicted by the numeral and isillus- 3,537,180 Patented Nov. 3, 1970 trated as comprising an outercasing 12, generally tubular and cylindrical defining a through opening14. Casing 12 has two open ends 16 and 18, one of which contains anannular flange 20, and may be fabricated of any suitable material, suchas plastic for example. One or more threaded passages 22 are providedintermediate the ends of casing 12 extending from an outer peripheralsurface thereof to the interior opening 14.

Slidably received in casing through opening 14 is an elongated,generally annular plunger 24 defining an internal passage 26, open atone end and closed at the other end by a removable flange 28, which islocated adjacent to and corresponding substantially in size to flange 20of casing 12. The open end of plunger 24 has suitably attached thereto aflexible portion 30 that may be a coil type spring or the like. The endof flexible portion 30 that is remote from the plunger attached end hasattached thereto a cylindrical collar 32. A plastic material tip, suchas polytetrafluoroethylene, is located on the free end of collar 32, asillustrated at 34 in FIG. 2.

Plunger 24 telescopes over an inner rod-like member 36 which is rigidlyattached to casing 12 by means of a screw or the like 38 passing throughopenings 22 and a slot 40 in the plunger. Member 36 has a curved taperedforward section 42 terminating in a dental material grip ping tip 44,which tip may comprise a pair of sharp tines 46, fabricated of stainlesssteel or the like. The flexible portion 30 of the plunger and the collaris suitably tapered to telescope over the forward section 42 and the tip44 of member 36. The slot 40 is of sufiicient extent to allow theplunger to have a stroke that is long enough to allow the collar 32 toextend beyond the tines 42. To bias the plunger in the positionillustrated in FIG. 1, a compres sion spring 48 may be located betweenflanges 20 and 28.

In operation, with the instrument in the position illus trated in FIG.1, a dental material such as cotton is picked up by the tines, whichgrip the material by slight penetration through the surface thereof. Thematerial is placed in the proper oral location and plunger 24 isactuated by suitable thumb pressure on flange 28. This causes the collar32 to slide over tip 44 into contact with the dental material, removingit from tines 46, and then well beyond the tines to wedge the materialfirmly in place in the mouth, as illustrated in FIG. 2.

The polytetrafluoroethylene tip 34 functions to prevent the dentalmaterial from adhering thereto.

The instrument according to the present invention is simple to use,inexpensive to manufacture and the parts may be fabricated of lightweight metals and/ or plastics.

Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has beendisclosed, other embodiments will oc our to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

1. A dental material placement instrument of the character described,comprising;

(a) (21m elongated member having a curved forward (b) sharp stationarytines on the extremity of said curved forward end for gripping a dentalmaterial,

(0) slidable means telescoping over said elongated member comprising agenerally tubular plunger having a flexible section surrounding saidcurved forward end,

(d) a collar attached to said flexible section adjacent said tines andmovable from a first position spaced from said tines, such that saidtines project therefrom, to a second position even with said tines to athird position beyond said tines,

(e) means normally biasing said collar into said first position,

(f) a stationary tubular casing surrounding said plunger, and

4 (g) means fixedly attaching said casing to said elon- (k) resilientmeans located between said flanges for gated member. urging said collaraway from said tines. 2. The instrument according to claim 1, furthercom- The Instrument according to Claim Whefeln! i i (1) said collar hasa polytetrafluoroethylene coated end.

(h) a slot in said plunger sufiiciently long to permit 5 said collar toextend beyond said tines, and wherein; References end (i) said lastmentioned means passes through said slot. UNITED STATES PATENTS 3. Theinstrument according to claim 2, further com- 1,473,062 11/1923 Tinker128-260 prising: 2,573,547 10/1951 Crowell 3260 (j) opposed flanges onsaid plunger and said casing, and 10 wherein said means normally biasingcomprises, ROBERT PESHOCK, Prlmary Examiner

